Revenue projections for 2017 ‘optimistic’ – IMF

Ghana’s economy growth is due to pick up in 2017 and inflation is coming down, but the government’s revenue projections for the year are “optimistic”, International Monetary Fund mission chief Annalisa Fedelino said on Thursday.

Ghana is following a three-year IMF programme worth around $918 million that aims to stabilise government finances and restore rapid economic growth, which could enable the country to regain its position as one of Africa’s most dynamic economies.

Finance Minister Ken Ofori-Atta, whose party took office in January, announced in March that the government would step up revenue collection by 33 percent as part of a plan to reduce the budget deficit to 6.5 percent of GDP in 2017.

“In the mission’s view revenue projections are optimistic,” Fedelino said, adding that other economists had also expressed this view and that it was a preliminary assessment.

Ofori-Atta said that Ghana is committed to ending its programme with the IMF as scheduled in April 2018, rebuffing reports that the government would ask for an extension of the programme.

Ofori-Atta is charged with restoring macro-economic stability to enable the government to create jobs through the private sector and promote development in a country whose main exports are oil, gold and cocoa. – REUTERS